| Home | About NAME | Resource Center | Contact NAME |
Date: 1-25-03
TO: Friends of Educational Equity
FROM: NAME – National Association for Multicultural Education (www.nameorg.org)
RE: ACTION NEEDED to ASSURE the FUTURE OF TITLE IX
We received this e-mail about the final meeting of the U.S. Title IX Commission next week. Much of what they are considering will gut the intent of Title IX, created to provide gender equity in education. If this law is diminished, it will undermine and start to unravel the last 30 years of work so many of us have done to assure that both female and male students, from all backgrounds, experience educational equity - not just in athletics, but in course selection, guidance, admissions, job opportunities, etc. Title IX has made a huge difference - but is in serious danger of being rendered meaningless due to today's political context. If you can, please lend your support. This is a rare opportunity to have an impact on what happens about equity in education.
Background Information about Title IX and the proposed changes - as well as contact information - are described below. TIMING IS IMPORTANT - please write (via snail mail or e-mail) to President Bush and to Education Secretary Paige.
PLEASE SHARE THIS WITH YOUR NAME CHAPTERS AND OTHER NETWORKS. Thank YOU!
Let's try to make a difference on this
CONTACTING THE PRESIDENT AND EDUCATION SECRETARY:
ALERT: Title IX is Under Attack!
On January 29 and 30, President Bush's Commission on Opportunity in Athletics will be having its final meeting to discuss their recommendations for Title IX. This meeting, to be held in Washington D.C., will be closed to public comment. As you know, in June 2002, U.S. Department of Education Secretary Rod Paige announced the establishment of the Commission, a blue-ribbon panel of professional athletes, educators, and athletic directors. The panel's professed goal is to "examine ways of strengthening enforcement of [Title IX] and expanding opportunities to ensure fairness for all college athletes."
Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 states: "No person in the United States shall on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any educational program or activity receiving federal financial assistance." Under Title IX, there has been much progress made in addressing the barriers women and girls face in education and athletics. By 2001, nearly 2.8 million girls participated in athletics, representing 41.5 percent of varsity athletes in U.S. high schools--an increase of more than an 847 percent from 1971. Progress on college campuses also has been impressive. Today, 150,916 women compete in intercollegiate sports, accounting for 43 percent of college varsity athletes--an increase of more than 403 percent from 1971. And, contrary to media reports, men's participation levels at both the high school and college level have also increased.
However, women still have a long way to go. Although Title IX has broken down barriers to opportunity in education and athletics over the past 30 years, full equity has not yet been achieved. Despite the gains women have made under Title IX, resources for women's sports have never caught up to resources for men's sports. For example, according to the National Women's Law Center, women in Division I colleges represent more than half of the student body, yet receive only 41 percent of athletic scholarship dollars, 30 percent of recruiting dollars, and 33 percent of overall athletic budgets. Although male and female participation in athletics has steadily grown, female students lag in participation opportunities, receipt of scholarships, and allocation of operating and recruitment budgets. Contrary to what Title IX's adversaries believe, discrepancies in participation rates are the result of continuing discrimination in access to equal athletic opportunities. For these reasons, we strongly support Title IX and oppose any efforts to weaken its effectiveness, including undermining the three-prong test used to determine athletic compliance. we believe this test is reasonable and fair. In fact, it has been upheld as constitutional by eight federal circuit courts.
We support the position, taken by AAUW and other organizations, that:
--No changes to Title IX standards as applied to athletics are warranted or necessary. Modifications to the standards that would limit future opportunities for women in favor of expanded opportunities for men would violate the goal of gender equity. Any modification to Title IX standards that are based on the premise that women are less interested than men in sports would be both factually inaccurate and legally invalid.
--What is necessary to ensure equal opportunities is vigorous federal enforcement of Title IX and its implementing policies at every level of education -- not revisions to the standards that have moved our nation towards that equality.
--A "pull-back" on the nation's commitment to civil rights should not be precipitated by colleges and universities' financial choices to emphasize selected sport programs, reduce the size of men's sports programs, or in other ways determine the size and expense of athletics programs
We hope that rather than attacking Title IX, the Commission and the Bush Administration will strengthen the enforcement and address the inequalities that still exist for women and girls in education and athletics.
ACTION: Please contact your Members of Congress and urge them to support women's equal opportunity in education and athletics and protect Title IX. Also, please tell President Bush and Secretary Paige to strongly oppose any steps that would weaken Title IX and limit opportunities for women and girls in athletics and education.
Capitol Hill Switchboard
202-224-3121
President George Bush
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20500
phone: 202-456-1111
e-mail: president@whitehouse.gov
Secretary Rod Paige
U.S. Department of Education
400 Maryland Ave., SW
Washington, DC 20202
phone: 202-401-3000
e-mail: rod.paige@ed.gov